Whispers in the Leaves
by Strumwulf
Summary: One-shots, scenes and random ideas for the Naruto Universe.  Added a couple of scenes from a Grendel cross-over I've started.
1. Why So Serious?

Why So Serious

Part 1 – Walking away from it all

Damn it, it was simple D-class escort mission, take some merchant and his goods from his shop to a shipping warehouse on the edge of town. Turned out the goods the merchant really dealt with was young girls, and once they reached the warehouse, she was jumped by several thugs. She was sure that she took out a couple of them, but there was only one of her, and too many of them in the end. This was why she was naked and tied up in an open crate, about to be sent gods know where. At least they didn't do anything besides beat her up.

Sakura couldn't stand it anymore. Sasuke had left, Naruto left soon after, Kakashi disappeared on a endless set of A and S class missions, Ino was always too busy training with her team or father and helping out with her family's shop to able to take time to talk to her, and let's not get started on the rest of the so-called Rookie 9. Here she was doing the worst D-class missions on the books, just to have something to do, besides sit around at home. She couldn't get anyone to give her any training without Kakashi's permission, because he was never around to ask. Plus, she was sick and tired of trying to teach herself jutsu out of the badly written and incomplete scrolls she could get from the library. Her training was a joke, her team was joke, her whole life to that point was one big joke. Right now would be a good time for one of Naruto's pranks, damn it. Bah, she tried to be serious, studious, and pretty, just like her mom said a good girl should be, and look where that got her. Naked! and tied up in a crate.

"Why so Serious?" prompted Inner Sakura.

"Yes, why so serious?" Sakura mumbled to herself. Playing by the rules, doing what others thought was proper, what had that got her? Nothing! She was disgraced, forgotten, a joke. It was time to do something different.

"So, what are we going to do?" Inner Sakura enquired.

"First, we slip off these ropes, then we take that knife off the thug over there." Sakura thought to herself as she glared at the guy playing with the butterfly knife. Then we kill everyone else that's here with a song in our hearts and laughter on our lips."

Sakura walked out the burning building wearing only the blood-splattered white trench coat she had taken off one of the bodies inside. While it was too big for her, it had several pockets filled with knives, scrolls, and several kinds of small explosives. Plenty of tools for whatever she decided to do next. Oh, she was bleeding, that last guy did get in a couple of good cuts at her face, better fix those up. Well, she had some thread in her room, a few minutes, and they would be taken care. Then she would head out of town, besides giving her a couple of cuts, the last guy told her where she was to be shipped to. It would be nice to see the old drunk and his family again. Maybe she could find some fun along the way.

Burning Stone

Madamarme Ryu made his way home after a day of patrolling the area around the village. Even though he stepped down from active service as a chunin of Iwagakure, he tried kept his skills sharp by keeping an eye on the border with Hi no Kuni, and training his son. While he did not regret the decision to return to the village of his birth to raise his family, Ryu missed the excitement of performing missions. He wished something would happen to break the monotony of his life.

As Ryu slid open the door to his house, he was surprised to see the women sitting on the other side of the laden dinner table was not his wife. He reached for a kunai, then stopped when he saw the Iwagakure headband woven into the woman's obi. The woman had long pink hair, and was wearing a white kimono that had a pattern of dark red flower petals with a light orange obi. Her face was done up all in white with a hint of red at her lips which were traced in black with lines going from the edge of her lips to just below her ears and three red lines on each cheek like whiskers. Looking at her, Ryu felt ill at ease, but pushed the feeling away as due to the suddeness of her appearance.

"My apologies for startling you, Madamarme-san." said Sakura. "Please, sit and enjoy the meal that Ami-chan prepared for you."

"And where is my wife and child?" Ryu demanded as he sat down.

"I informed her that we would be discussing business and her company would not be needed tonight. Ami-chan said she was going visit her sister and took young Ikkaku with her."

"What is the purpose of your visit, Kunoichi-san? We don't entertain many guests out this way."

"I wish to know of any enemy activity in the area, and to remind you that Iwagakure has not forgotten its son. But that can wait. Eat, drink, and let us be merry." answered Sakura with a soft laugh.

The pair enjoyed the meal that Ryu's wife had prepared, and Ryu passed on that very little happened in the area. Konohagakure patrolled their side of the border, he this side, and occasionally the two would meet to pass on news and generally touch base.

Sakura gently inquired, "Do you know a way to cross the border without catching the notice of the Leaf-nin, Ryu-chan?"

"If you're headed toward Hi no Kuni, I have maps that show some hidden paths that the Leaf shouldn't know about yet. Let me go get them." Ryu said. As he went to stand up, Ryu found his legs wouldn't support his weight causing him to fall onto the table. He reached out to grab Sakura, but she easily slipped out of his reach. "What have you done?"

"Making sure you can't interfere, Ryu-chan, and giving you some excitment. Like you said nothing has happened here, since Yondaime-sama slaughtered several of your men here. I've decided to change that. Now, you just rest here for a bit. The poison should wear off in about an hour. If you're lucky, you might live through tonight."

"Why me, Kitsune?" spat Ryu as he made a connection between his guest's behavior and appearance and several old stories.

"Ohh, thank you for the name, Ryu-chan. I knew you would be entertaining." The newly-christened Kitsune purred before planting a kiss on Ryu's check. "Now, don't get up. I'll let myself out, and thank you for the gift of your scrolls. I'm afraid I lied about where your son is, Ryu-chan. But don't worry too much about him, I sent him on a treasure hunt in the caves, so he should be fine. He might even find my gift useful."

Ryu screamed in rage and fear as he saw Kitsune leave his house and use a Katon jutsu to set the dry fields across the road on fire. He cursed that he had wanted to have some excitement, and hoped that his family would make it through the night.

Sakura let out a throaty laugh, as she watched the village burned. She hoped that Ryu would survive, he came up with such delightful ideas, and she could almost taste his rage and fear as she left him paralyzed in his house. With his naming her Kitsune, she felt like she found the missing piece to her new life. Sure, she pulled a prank here, a murder there, a robbery across the street, leave a gift at that house, she didn't have anything that people could point to and say, she did that. Maybe, she could get some cards made with a Kitsune image on them. Better make it a Kyubi no Kitsune. She'd have to find out if there was a summoning contract for foxes and kitsunes, and take it. If people thought Kyubi no Kitsune had been terrifying, wait until she got started. Guess it had been a good idea to add the whisker marks today. Anyway better get on the road to the capital, the Daiymo needed to know that the Leaf had burned one of his villages to the ground. Besides, she had there were some good tattoo parlors there.

Meeting Tobi

Sakura looked up from where she was arranging a body, and asked, "Could you bring me that stack of seals, my masked friend?"

"Here you go, Miss. Is Tobi a good boy?" Tobi said as he appeared next to Sakura holding the seals.

"Yes, Tobi is a good boy." Sakura replied with a laugh. "Your mask reminds me of a friend. He really likes the color orange, and the swirl just goes with his name. Call me Kitsune, Tobi."

"Ok, Kitsune-sempai. What are we doing? What's your friend's name?"

"My friend? Oh, it's Naruto. As for what we're doing? I'm leaving a message for another friend."

"Naruto?" Tobi said as he cocked his head to the side, as though in deep thought. "Oh, I remember now. Itachi-sempai and Kisame-sempai are looking for a Naruto."

"Really, you must tell me all about it, Tobi-chan." Sakura purred as her smile grew wider. "As your new friend, I just must know what your sempais are up to. Let's finish this up, and we'll go have some fun."

With that the pair, finished arranging the bodies to Sakura's satisfaction, set the last set of traps, and closed the door behind them.

"Where are we going now, Kitsune-sempai?"

"I'm going to send a message to a friend. It would not do, for me to set all this up and not have the guest of honor show up." Sakura said. "Tell me Tobi, do you know any jokes?"

"No, but Diedra-sempai is always saying Art is a Bang!"

Punishment

On a theater stage, several struggling bodies are hanging from the ceiling, while on the stage itself sat a man tied into a chair. A spotlight illuminates an area on the left side of the stage. Sakura steps into the spot. She is wearing a black tights, with a red open-backed blouse. As she cartwheels to the center of the stage, we can see the tattoo of a Kitsune on her back, one tail pink, a second orange, the other 7 just outlines.

Sakura leans towards the man in the chair, resting her hands on his legs over bloody rents in his pants. She pressed down into the wound with her thumb, and with a muffled scream, the man snapped his head up and caught Sakura looking at him like a fox about to eat a nice plump chicken.

"Hush, Hush, darling." Sakura drawled out. "There is no need for screaming yet. I've still got to set the stage."

The man was shaking his head side to side, as if he was trying to deny what he was seeing, as well as trying to pull at ropes holding him. Sakura slipped behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed. The man ceased his actions, and Sakura whispered in his ear, "You're surprised to see me here, darling, aren't ya? I'm just as surprised to be here, myself."

"I mean a couple weeks ago, I was enjoying a bit of fun in the Land of the Waves, when what do I hear about, but the news that the Kitsune herself had performed a robbery in Cloud country. Of course, this got me curious as to who use my name to commit such an act." Sakura said as she paced back and forth with her hands held behind her back.

Then with a skip, a jump, and a flick of her wrist, Sakura was on the lap of the guy cutting a shallow line on one check with the knife that appeared in her hand. "So I make way here, and what do I find? You and the little copycat, and your gang of thugs."

Sakura slid bonelessly off the guy's lap to the floor, then rolled backwards before pushing up into a handstand, before flipping to her feet. "Your thugs, of course, know nothing, so I'm going to leave them hanging until I have use for them. Which, lucky for them, I now do. The little copycat told me that you had hired her to fill the part, so I broke her neck and fed her to my pets." At this point a pair of foxes the size of wolves slipped out of the shadows and sat down on either of side of Sakura. "Isn't that write, babies?" Sakura said as she hugged the pair.

"But you, darling, are special. You actually thought up the idea to use my name to cover your ass, and that I consider that unforgivable. I don't mind inspiring someone to follow in my footsteps. I mean someone has to inspire the youth of today. It's not like the Kages are up to the task. But no one; No one uses my name but me. Especially not a two-bit punk with delusions of grandeur." Sakura snarled as she paced around the man. "It took me a little bit to think of the proper punishment, then it came to be as I was finishing up with the copycat. Since you want to be me, I'll make you me!" With that Sakura kicked the man in the chest, knocking him over and breaking the chair so he was lying flat. He barely got to a sitting position, when the breath was knocked out of him when Sakura kicked him again in the center of the chest. He was sure several ribs were cracked if not outright broken, as he tried to catch a breath.

Sakura loomed over the guy as she flashed a smile that seemed to have too many teeth, and he shivered as he felt a blade slide across his check. Suddenly the gag hung loose as it had been cut along with his check. "By the way, this is part where you scream." And scream he did as he felt a knife slide into his stomach, two powerful jaws clamp down on his legs, and merciless laughter filled his ears.


	2. Why So Serious?  Naruto's Homecoming

Naruto sat down next to Ino at Ichiraku, then asked, "Where's Sakura, Ino? I've looked everywhere. She on a mission or something?"

Ino sucked in a breath at the mention of Sakura, then turned toward Naruto with a fierce gleam in her eyes. "Sakura? You want to know where, Sakura is, Naruto?"

"That's what I'm asking." Naruto said with a clueless grin.

"She's gone, Naruto. Disappeared, vanished. No one has seen her since just after you left on your training trip." Ino growled out, while repeatedly poking Naruto in the chest. "My friend took a D class mission and never came back. A lot of people think she ran off to find you or that traitor."

"Sasuke is not a traitor!" Naruto shouted. "He's my friend."

"He left, baka, and nearly killed my friends doing it, so yes, he's a traitor. He's been listed as Kill on sight by every country from Snow to Grass. You do know that he's been leading Sound teams in their various raids to support Orochimaru's experiments."

"Why didn't anyone tell me this? I could have found Sakura, stopped Sasuke." Naruto wailed.

"Tell you! And how were we supposed to do that, baka? You disappeared from the hospital, days after you got your ass handed to you by Sasuke and the Sound agents. You don't write anyone, or leave any messages. It's not like any of us can ask the Hokage to send you a letter. You're the one with the summons, you could have kept in touch, if you really wanted to. So tell me, Naruto, how were we supposed to let you know?" Ino shouted.

"So why didn't you find her, Ino? You were here." Naruto shouted back.

"You want to know where I was when my friend, your teammate, disappeared. I was in the capital with Asuma-sensei informing the daiymo that the last loyal Uchiha had gone rogue and joined forces with Orochimaru, the deadliest traitor from the Leaf that's sill alive. The world doesn't stop because you're on some heroic quest to bring your friend back. The rest of us have live in the here and now, and deal with the crap. Good bye, Naruto." With that Ino, walked out of the stand and disappeared into the gathered crowd.


	3. Death From Above

Sakura slowly shifted her weight from one leg to another as she watched the area below her. Sasuke and Naruto had been hurt badly in the fight with the strange Grass-nin, and it was up to her to keep them safe. She had hidden them in a hollow under the tree she was hiding in and trapped the area around the tree, then brought out her new pride and joy. She had picked it up in the aftermath of the fight with Haku and Zabuza off of the body of a mercenary, and then practiced with it everyday after that until her fingers bled and her arms had screamed with pain from constantly drawing the bow string and putting arrow after arrow into her target of the day, then she would start again the next day. Since both Sasuke and Naruto were close quarters fighters, she would start providing long range support. While she might not have the "all-seeing eyes" of a Hyugga, her vision was pretty sharp, and she could calculate the different vectors that would affect a shot in her head, and adjust her aim as needed to hit the target.


	4. Training

Training

Mamoru sat in the lounge waiting for classes to end. He was waiting for Umino Iruka to show up, so he could be begin his new mission. With the loss of his team, there isn't much for a lone genin can accomplish, plus being put on light duty by the medics kept him out of the reserve pool for the time being. Mamoru grimaced as he started thinking about the last mission, when a loud whining coming towards the room disturbed his thoughts.

"Iruka-sensei, why do I have to sit in class, it's boring and the other instructors never teach me anything," a young voice whined.

"Naruto, if you want to be a ninja, you need to know what is being taught here. But, I've thought of something that might help you out," an older voice answered. "Ah, he is here."

"Really, who, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Mamoru stood up as Iruka and Naruto entered the room and said, "I'm ready to begin my mission, Iruka-sempai."

"Sit down, kohai. I now you're still recovering. Naruto, this is Mamoru. He will be helping with your training for now."

"Recovering? Recovering from what?" Naruto asked innocently.

"From my last mission, brat." Mamoru growled. "What exactly will I be doing sempai."

"You are to take over the training of Uzmaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura until such time that they graduate from the academy or your are reassigned by the Hokage."

"I'm going to working with Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"That is up to Mamoru, Naruto. But, I'm sure you will spend some time with her." Iruka said.

"Yah, can I go tell her, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Hmm, very well. Here is your mission, Naruto. You are to inform Haruno-san that she is to report to this room in 1 hour with you." Iruka commanded.

"Ok, Iruka-sensei. See you later." Naruto said just before he dashed out of the room.

"I understand giving the brat individual training, just be looking at him, I can tell his skills are pitiful, but why Haruno. I've heard nothing about her that she would need this level of attention."

"While Sakura is passing the courses, it is on the strength of written test scores. The girl is extremely intelligent, she could probably plan and prepare any mission we put to her, the problem falls in execution. Her physical skills are abysmal and her chakra reserves barely outstrip most civilians. Her other problem is her infatuation with Uchiha Sasuke."

"Aah, Uchiha. How is the brat doing?"

"As well as can be expected, he is considered to be the rookie of the year. He learns quickly enough and his skills are the top of the class. Though, I have to wonder how he will act on a team. He doesn't socialize with anyone in his class, and unfortunately, we leave most of the team training to the Jounins after the teams are formed, so I can't offer any kind of opinion in that area."


	5. Becoming Uchiha

Sakura sat at a table in the back of the library with books and scrolls piled around her. Since she had no friends to talk with about Sasuke, she turned to the only thing that had never her down, the library. She found every book and scroll the library that mentioned the Uchiha clan. She was sure would find something that give her an edge over all the other girls via for Sasuke's attention. She was currently looking over a scroll that she found buried under a pile she had accidently knocked over. It appeared to be written by the Shodaime and Nidaime about their observations of the Uchihas, with notes added later by a Uchiha Izuna. She was staring at a line that if she followed the advice would change how she did everything.

"When an Uchiha marries outside of the clan, that person is always a shinobi of the highest skill and caliber."

While Sakura doubted Sasuke had ever seen this scroll, she was pretty sure that he would agree with the sentiment in a heartbeat. If she really wanted Sasuke, she would have to do more than just ace all of the theory tests, she would have to start working on the physical, plus figure out how do perform more techniques then kawamari, henge and bushin.


	6. Grendel

Hunter sucked in a gulp of air as he regained consciousness. While his body felt tender and sore, he was missing the injuries that Argent had inflicted during their rooftop fight. After running through a quick set of isometric exercises, Hunter determined that he was in good enough shape to fight if needed. Opening his eyes, he confirmed what his other senses had been telling him. He wasn't in New York anymore. Looking around, Hunter saw that was on the edge of a lake that had a forest running along the bank he was on, and there was a mist-shrouded bridge close enough that he could hear fighting. After climbing one of the nearby trees, Hunter quickly made his way toward the bridge. He stopped on a tree whose branches overhung the bridge, giving him a perfect view of the fight occurring and hide him from any casual observer. The first thing Hunter noticed was how young the majority of the participants were. They looked younger then he was at the time he meet Jocasta. The second thing that caught his attention, was the fighters conjuring of ice and fire, then using it to attack each other. He would have to figure out how they did that. Hunter watched with a critical eye as the two adults fought each other, the two pre-teen boys fought in the Ice Dome against the teenager, and the girl furtively watch the fights as she kept guard on the old man. Then just as a victor was emerging, a third party showed up. The leader of this new group, Gatou epitomized the sleazy gangster stereotype. As Hunter watched, Gatou received his just rewards for his planned betrayal, then started following a group of the ruffians that were now running away from the slaughter occurring on the bridge.

Sakura poked her head into the room that Tazuna was using as his office. "You have a visitor, Tazuna-san."

Looking up from the paperwork scattered across his desk, Tazuna growled, "Show him in, Sakura-chan. I need to take a break from this anyway."

Sakura nodded and opened the door. In walked a man in his mid-twenties, dressed in a business suit. The first thing, Tazuna noticed was the shock of white hair, the second was the aura of leashed violence similar to what he saw from Kakashi and Zabuza.

"greetings, Tazuna -San, I'm Hunter Rose. I've taken control of Gatou's organization. I've come to make an offer."

Standing up so quickly that his chair fell over, Tazuna yelled, "Leave you bastard. We kicked Gatou's off our land. We're not letting any else move-in."

Hunter smiled softly and an assumed glint appeared in his eyes, then said. "I have no intention of following in that buffoons footsteps. Only an idiot would destroy the ability of his customers to purchase and sell goods. As an act of good faith I want to provide your people with the materials to get this village back on tract. If you could have a list made, I'll be back in a couple of days to pick it up."

"What do you want here, that requires such a gesture." Tazuna asked suspiciously

"I want to utilize your docks and that bridge, and build some warehouses. You sit on what could be a major trade route, and if properly handled, we can all profit."


End file.
